Thursday, April 27, 2017

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Orchestra will perform well-known tunes from several popular movies during its “Afternoon at the Movies” spring concert. Following the performance, a meet and greet will be held for high school students and parents who want to learn more about the UIS Music Program and the new academic minor.

DETAILS: The concert will feature pieces from famous movies, such as “Star Wars”, “The Pink Panther” and “James Bond”, and includes the “Warsaw Concerto” by Richard Addinsell, featuring pianist Miaomiao Liu, winner of the UIS Solo Competition. Yona Stamatis, UIS assistant professor of ethnomusicology, will direct the orchestra.

After the concert, high school students and parents can meet and speak with UIS music professors and students to learn about new opportunities in the UIS Music Program, including new course offerings in musicology, ethnomusicology, music technology, music theory and performance, the new music minor degree offered at UIS and brand new individual instrumental and vocal instruction for fall 2017. Students and parents can also learn about the $10,000 Camerata Scholarships offered to non-music majors and various musical opportunities on campus.

The concert is free, but donations used to benefit the UIS Music Student Merit Award are welcomed. The UIS Music program began in 2001 and is comprised of students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as Springfield community members, all with a variety of skill levels.

For more information, contact Stamatis at 217/206-8583 or ystam2@uis.edu.

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Women's Center and Residence Life will hold the 10th annual “Take Back the Night” march and rally. The event protests rape and all forms of violence against women. This year’s theme is “Be the Change!”

WHEN: Friday, April 28, 2017, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: The candlelight march will start with a brief ceremony near the colonnade on the UIS main quad and progress towards the Lincoln Residence Hall (LRH) Great Room where a rally will be held.

DETAILS: “Take Back the Night” empowers women and all people to reclaim their right to be safe in the nighttime and at all times. “Take Back the Night” will include poetry and a healing observance. This year’s logo includes a heart – signifying our current times point us to a need to return to core issues and to the heart of the human experiences which inspired take back the night events worldwide. Sweatshop-free t-shirts will be distributed.

The Clothesline Project and 10 Paper Cranes to Heal the Violencewill also be on display. The Clothesline Project is made up of t-shirts telling women’s stories. The 10 Paper Cranes project was created by UIS Women’s Center five years ago. Students create paper cranes streamers dedicated to victims/survivors. It is now replicated elsewhere – in USA and globally.

The supporting organizations for the event include the African Student Association, Afrobeat Dance Crew, College Democrats at UIS, Epic Praise for Christ, Gamma Phi Omega International Sorority, Indian Student Organization, International Student Association, Lincoln Land Community College, Organization of Latin American Students, TARA Mediation Club, and Vietnamese Student Association.

For more information on “Take Back the Night”, contact the UIS Women’s Center at 217/206-7173 or womenscenter@uis.edu.

Monday, April 24, 2017

NPR Illinois | 91/9 UIS will host 11 free events across the state open to the public to talk about how different regions have been impacted by the budget impasse. The forums sponsored by AARP are a chance to hear directly from Illinois residents about their experience without a state budget and panelists’ views on these impacts.

The first event will take place in Springfield, IL on Thursday, April 27, 6 p.m. at the Wyndham Springfield City Centre. Moderated by Sean Crawford-NPR Illinois News Director, panelists for the Springfield forum are Amanda Vinicky- Chicago Tonight reporter, former NPR Illinois State House reporter, Jonathan Lackland - Director of State Government Relations at Illinois State University, Howard Peters-AARP Illinois Executive Council Member.

NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS has aggregated their budget coverage on the impact of the impasse under the “Past Due” banner at nprillinois.org. Past Due is a commitment by NPR Illinois to cover the historic Illinois budget impasse and to explain the impact that continues to build. NPR Illinois reporters investigate how Illinois is, and will be, affected by the uncertainty.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Music Program presents its Spring Showcase Concert featuring performances by the UIS Chorus, UIS Orchestra, and UIS Band. The performance is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Friday, April 28, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Sangamon Auditorium, located in the Public Affairs Center at UIS

DETAILS: The event will feature a wide array of music including pieces from famous movies, such as “The Pink Panther” and “James Bond”. It will also include works by Mozart, Vaughn Williams and Copland as well as guest collaboration with Lincoln Land Community College. “Work of Art” by Shannon Wexelberg features vocal soloist Stephanie Marsaglia, a winner of the UIS Soloist Competition.

The UIS Orchestra, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology Yona Stamatis, will lead the program with music from the movies. The orchestra line-up is a preview for the highly anticipated “Afternoon at the Movies” concert that the group will present on May 7 at 3 p.m. in Sangamon Auditorium.

Directed by Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Sharon Graf, the UIS Chorus will combine with the Lincoln Land Community College Choir under the direction of See Tsai Chan. They will perform a set of sacred and folk song selections and Francis Nesta’s comedic piece “The Argument”. They will return at the end of the concert to join the UIS Band to perform Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living”.

The UIS Band will end the program under the direction of Applied Music Specialist Abigail Walsh, starting with Franz von Suppe’s famous “Poet and Peasant Overture”. Other works include “The Winged Stallion” by Rossano Galante, “Yagi Bushi”, an arrangement of a Japanese folk song by Naohiro Iwai, and Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “English Folk Song Suite”.

Donations are welcome and will be used to benefit the UIS Music Student Merit Award. The UIS Music program began in 2001 and is comprised of students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as Springfield community members, all with a variety of skill levels.

Anyone who is interested in joining the UIS chorus, band or chamber orchestra may contact Abigail Walsh at 217/206-7549 or music@uis.edu.

Ten students from
the University of Illinois Springfield will present their work at the third
annual University of Illinois Undergraduate Research Day at the Illinois State
Capitol on Tuesday, April 25, 2017.

The students will
display their research from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the first floor south corridor of
the capitol building. Students will make poster presentations about their
research and answer questions from lawmakers and the public.

UIS students will
join their peers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the
University of Illinois at Chicago. Students were selected in a competitive
process by the Undergraduate Research Steering Committee.

Student

Major

Project

Faculty Mentor

Hometown

Noah Sisson

Business

The BAD System

Bruce Sommer

Virden

Breanna
Henderson

Environmental
Studies, Sociology/Anthropology

Seeds of
Possibility: Social Cohesion and Local Participation in Springfield's
Community Gardens

Megan Styles

Springfield

Briana
Rodriguez

Political
Science

Finding the
Beauty in the Ugly

Vicki Perkins

Streamwood

Tonda Chasteen

Biology

Inter-Institutional
Collaborative Chemistry Assignments

Layne Morsch

Lewistown

Katelyn
Camardelle

Legal Studies /
Political Science

United States
Maternity Leave and the State-Sponsored Opportunity Gap

Eugene McCarthy

McHenry

Abigail R.
Norville

Biology

Hepatitis C
Among Homeless People in Major Central Illinois Cities

Tracy
Schatteman

Palmer

Jack Zinnen

Biology

Focus Stacking
as a Means of Capturing Images of the Small World Around Us

Michael Lemke

Springfield

Christina
Hanula

Visual Arts

Dementia

Shane Harris

Springfield

Vanessa Pratt

Legal Studies
and Communication

Drug Courts:
The Cure for the American Legal System's Addiction to Punishment

Nicole Overcash

Quincy

Leanna
Kehl

Psychology

Important
Characteristics of Early School Readiness According to Teachers and
Caregivers

Michele
Miller

Des Plaines

The event is
co-sponsored by the UIS Undergraduate Research Support Program and the UIS
Chancellor’s Office.

For more
information, contact UIS Associate Professor of Chemistry and Director of Undergraduate
Student Research Keenan Dungey at 217/206-7345 or kdung1@uis.edu.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Hundreds of students helped to kick off the 25th annual Springfest celebration at the University of Illinois Springfield with the annual Scavenger Hunt on April 17, 2017. Springfest is one of the longest running student traditions on campus, which started in 1992.

Scavenger Hunt participants were given a surprise list of more 200 items to collect during a one-hour period. Points were awarded based on the number of total items collected.

Students were not allowed to use cars, bikes, or other transportation and had to collect all of the items on campus.

This year, there are 45 teams expected to participate in Springfest for a total of 630 students.

DETAILS:Robyn Ochs, an educator, speaker, award-winning activist and editor explores sexuality over a lifespan as she breaks the silence of fluid sexual identities. Her program explores the landscape of sexuality and how society maps sexual orientation. Given that no two people are alike, how do labels get assigned to an individual’s complicated and unique experiences?

Ochs’ interactive workshop will conduct an anonymous survey of participants, look at the data and find where the group falls on the sexuality continuum. The program will encourage participants in the UIS Day of Silence to share their experience.

Ochs has taught courses on LGBT history and politics in the United States, the politics of sexual orientation and the experiences of those who transgress traditional binary categories. Her work focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of complex identities and mobilizing people to be powerful allies to one another within and across identities and social movements.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

Monday, April 10, 2017

WHAT: University of Illinois Springfield Health Services and Campus Recreation presents the annual Health & Wellness Fair. The event will offer health screenings, information and door prizes. The fair is free and open to the public, students, faculty and staff.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

WHERE: The Recreation and Athletic Center (TRAC) at UIS
2171 University Drive, Springfield

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield presents “Muslims in America: Challenges and Opportunities in the Trump Administration” featuring Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The lecture is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Thursday, April 13, 2017, from 8 to 9:30 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Rehab will discuss civil rights challenges of American Muslims and immigration and will conclude with suggestions on how United States institutions of higher education can welcome Muslim students and scholars.

An informal discussion with the speaker will also take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Brookens Auditorium before the lecture. Snacks and refreshments will be offered after the events.

Rehab was born in Cairo, Egypt to a Chemical Engineer and a Russian Interpreter, and grew up between Cairo and Manchester, England. He moved with his parents to the United States in 1992. He completed his undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and his graduate studies in software engineering at DePaul University.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group.

This event is sponsored by the UIS Muslim Student Organization, the UIS Diversity Center, the UIS Division of Student Affairs, UIS International Student Services, and the Islamic Society of Greater Springfield.

For more information, contact Ali Nizamuddin, UIS associate professor of political science, at 217/206-8424 or aniza2@uis.edu.

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Department of English and Modern Languages, and Friends of Brookens Library present “Cataloguing Gratitude”.

WHEN: Thursday, April 20, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: Indiana University Associate Professor and Poet Ross Gay will deliver the Student Technology, Arts and Research Symposium (STARS) keynote address exploring the importance of singular compassion for the wounded world through musicality, intelligence and intoxicating joy.

Gay will read from his most recent collection, “Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude”, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 2016 and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2015.

His collection has been called a “bright book of life.”

Ross is the author of three books. He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food all justice and joy project.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series, the Radical Student Union and Political Science Department present a panel discussion and understanding of anarchy.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: UIS Emeritus Professors Dennis Fox and Ron Sakolsky are self-proclaimed life-long anarchists. Their presentation and panel discussion will briefly highlight the history of anarchism and its impact on the world. They will address the common misunderstandings of anarchism and discuss anarchy in the 21st century and beyond. Participants are encouraged to ask questions about anarchy and why it matters today.

Fox is an emeritus associate professor of legal studies and psychology. He has participated in dozens of panels and workshops regarding theories on psychology and morality of anarchism. His most recent publication is “Psycho-politics: The Cross-Sections of Science and Ideology in the History of Psy-sciences”. Sakolsky is an emeritus professor of public policy. He has written several books relating to anarchism and surrealism like his collection of essays in Creating Anarchy. He is an editor for “The Oystercatcher”, an anarcho-surrealist magazine.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

WHEN: Thursday, April 20 from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. & Friday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: UIS campus – with various presentations in the Sangamon Auditorium Lobby, Public Affairs Center, and Brookens Auditorium

DETAILS: UIS undergraduate and graduate students will present their research and creative activities through short talks, poster presentations, art exhibitions and musical performances. All events are free and open to the public. The symposium is also a great opportunity for businesses to explore and network with potential new talent for their organizations.

The symposium events begin on Thursday, April 14, at 1:30 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium with keynote speaker Ross Gay, the author of the books “Against Which”, “Bringing the Shovel Down” and “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” and winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. A book signing will follow. Oral and poster presentations from students in the College of Business and Management, musical performances and an arts reception are scheduled Thursday afternoon and evening.

Events on Friday, April 21, include additional student oral presentations, a reading of the student directed play, as well as poster presentations, art exhibitions and music. William Cosgrove, former vice president of the World Bank and current chair of the board of the Water Economics, Policy and Governance Research Network (Canada) will speak at 1:30 p.m. in Brookens Auditorium about global efforts to responsibly manage water resources and the need for a U.S. commitment to sustainable development.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

WHAT: The Military & Veterans Club at the University of Illinois Springfield will hold a Food Ruck 3K to collect canned goods for the Central Illinois Foodbank. A “ruck” is a military inspired march/run/walk where participants will carry the food that is collected.

WHEN: Saturday, April 8, 2017, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

WHERE: Parking Lot B at the University of Illinois Springfield

DETAILS: Participants are asked to bring a backpack full of canned goods, take on the UIS Cross Country Course (at your speed) and donate the cans at the finish line. The cost to participate with a food donation is $10 or $20 without a donation. Proceeds will benefit the UIS Military and Veterans Club.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series presents “River Reconnections: A Story of Science and Hope” featuring speaker Michelle Carr, Illinois State Director of The Nature Conservancy. Her presentation is sponsored by the Edmund L. Kowalczyk Fund for Leadership at UIS.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 18, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: In honor of Earth Week, Carr will help all in attendance understand how social and environmental resilience is possible in cities, farmlands, artificial waterways and other built environments.

She will share:

Current efforts to bridge the perceived gaps between conservation science and economic decision-making.

How central Illinois land and water conservations practices are contributing to global solutions.

Information about her own efforts to advance critical conversation, issues, such as climate change, across the state.

How all in attendance can take a leadership role in local restoration and conservation projects.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance.

For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/. All events are free and open to the public.

Monday, April 3, 2017

The University of Illinois SpringfieldVisual Arts Gallery is proud to present “Lunchables”, an exhibition showcasing the creativity and skill sets of the senior visual arts majors at UIS. The exhibit will open on April 27, 2017, and conclude on May 11, 2017. An opening reception will be held on May 4, 2017, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition and the opening reception will be held simultaneously in the Visual Arts Gallery in the Health & Sciences Building and the Access Gallery in the Visual & Performing Arts Building at UIS.

Featuring multi-media works produced by the UIS Visual Arts graduating seniors, “Lunchables” draws upon underlying themes of memory and reflection, invoking contemplation on the past, present, and future. This exhibition displays ceramics, painting, digital media, fiber arts, photography, and a multitude of mixed media. From imagined narratives highlighting real-world perspectives to personal narratives told through symbolic forms, this exhibition aims to not only present the skills of these students, but to also challenge the ways in which people perceive reality.

Like the variety of art mediums, art styles, and personalities presented in this exhibition, “Lunchables” asks you to consider how a different arrangement of ideals can change your perspective. Here, Lunchables are a food for thought.

The Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, Room 201, and is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Access Gallery is located in the Visual and Performing Arts Building and is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.